Hot goalie earns split at Utah

Cody Reichard stopped 26 of 27 shots, and the Thunder held on for a 2-1 road win over the Utah Grizzlies on Wednesday in front of 2,729 fans at the Maverik Center in West Valley City, Utah.

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By The Record

recordnet.com

By The Record

Posted Jan. 3, 2013 at 12:01 AM

By The Record

Posted Jan. 3, 2013 at 12:01 AM

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Cody Reichard stopped 26 of 27 shots, and the Thunder held on for a 2-1 road win over the Utah Grizzlies on Wednesday in front of 2,729 fans at the Maverik Center in West Valley City, Utah.

"He was awesome," Thunder coach Matt Thomas said of Reichard. "He made so many key saves at big times, it allowed our guys to stay focused and committed to our game plan."

Stockton is in second place in the Pacific Division, three points behind Ontario, and in fourth place in the Western Conference. While the Thunder is nine points behind the Alaska Aces, it's just three back of Ontario, which is second in the conference. The Thunder returns to Stockton Arena for back-to-back home games Friday (Alaska) and Saturday (Colorado).

"It's a really important month for us," Thomas said. "If you look at the standings, we're in a real critical stretch of our season right now.

"We either join the conversation with the teams above us, or we join the conversation with the teams below us. It would be nice to string a bunch of wins together."

Through most of the first two periods, Reichard and Utah goalie Andrew Engelage were locked in a classic dual. It appeared the game might go to the third period scoreless, but once Engelage bent, he broke ... twice.

Stockton center Justin Maylan ended the deadlock with 3:03 left in the second period. Just 54 seconds later, Matt Bergland scored his sixth of the season for a 2-0 lead.

Before the game, Stockton announced that defenseman Nathan Deck had been named a starter for ECHL All-Star Game on Jan. 23 in at the Budweiser Events Center in Loveland, Colo.

Deck is currently playing for the American Hockey League with the Oklahoma City Barons, an affiliate of the Edmonton Oilers. He was loaned to the Barons on a professional tryout agreement on Dec. 3. In 19 games with Stockton this year, Deck has 17 points. That led all Thunder defensemen at the time of his call-up, and it was fourth among ECHL defensemen.